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Is Bayer Leverkusen's Bundesliga title an ominous sign for Europe's super clubs?

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Is Bayer Leverkusen's Bundesliga title an ominous sign for Europe's super clubs?

Bayer Leverkusen’s long-suffering fans had waited 120 years for their team to win a league title. On Sunday, with their first Bundesliga crown just seven minutes away, their patience finally ran out.

When Florian Wirtz’s second goal gave Leverkusen a 4-0 lead over Werder Bremen in the 83rd minute of a game it had to win to clinch the championship, supporters began poring out of the stands and onto the pitch. On the bench, players danced and hugged one another.

When Wirtz scored again moments later, the stands again emptied and referee Harm Osmers abandoned the match. What more did anyone need to see?

Not only had Leverkusen at long last shed its Anglicized nickname “Neverkusen,” but it had done so in dramatic fashion, running its German-record unbeaten streak to 43 games in all competition to secure the title with five weeks left in the season.

“Finally, we can say Bayer Leverkusen is German champion,” said coach Xabi Alonso, who took over early last season when the team was facing relegation. “The first title is always special for everyone. So to be part of this history feels incredible.”

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With Sunday’s win, Leverkusen ended Bayern Munich’s 11-season reign as Bundesliga champion — a run Alonso helped start by leading Bayern to three straight championships as a player a decade ago. And there may be more history to come since Leverkusen (25-0-4) is bidding to become the first team to finish a Bundesliga season unbeaten.

Bayern Leverkusen fans celebrate after the team defeats Werder Bremen to clinch the German Bundesliga title.

(Martin Meissner / Associated Press)

With 13 points in its final five games, Leverkusen would break Munich’s record of 91 points in a season, set in 2013, and it also has a chance at a treble since it leads West Ham 2-0 after the first leg of the Europa League quarterfinal and will face second-division Kaiserslautern in the German Cup final in Berlin on May 25.

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“We are not focusing on record numbers,” said Simon Rolfes, a former Leverkusen player and academy manager who, as managing director of sport, was the architect of the championship roster. “We are focusing on the [two] running competitions. The season is not over. Jobs have to be done still.”

The title didn’t come cheaply, with Rolfes spending more than $96 million on six players in last summer’s transfer window. But he got what he paid for with the newly acquired pair of Victor Boniface and Alex Grimaldo combining for 20 goals and 20 assists while longtime goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky led the league in shutouts (14) and save percentage (78.7%).

Yet Leverkusen’s payroll, estimated at $70 million a year, remains just a quarter of what Bayern Munich is spending. Leverkusen wins because it is more a team than a collection of stars, with four players — led by Boniface and the 20-year-old Wirtz, a product of Leverkusen’s development system — contributing at least eight goals and seven assists each.

“We’re proud of the style of play we’ve shown on the field this year,” Rolfes said in an email interview. “Balance and depth is crucial. When Boniface went down with an injury, others were there to secure our results. There are many players in the team that have strong offensive skills — but they put the group in front, not themselves.”

Bayern Leverkusen players celebrate after winning the Bundesliga title on Sunday.

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(Martin Meissner / Associated Press)

Vanquishing Bayern Munich, the richest club in Germany and the sixth-richest in the world, is a major achievement, not just for Leverkusen but for the Bundesliga and all of club soccer.

Europe’s top five leagues have long been dominated by super clubs, meaning most teams — and their supporters — had little reason to aspire to a championship when the season began. That power structure may be crumbling, however. Juventus, which won nine consecutive titles in Italy’s Serie A, will finish short of the summit for a fourth straight season this year. And Spain’s La Liga hasn’t had a repeat winner in five years.

“Perhaps it’s healthy for the Bundesliga, also for German football, for another team to win,” Alonso said.

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But doing that takes more than just the team on the field, said Fernando Carro, the team’s Barcelona-born CEO.

“Of course, the squad mainly constructed by Simon Rolfes is excellent. Xabi Alonso’s work as a head coach is outstanding. That is apparent,” said Carro, who joined Leverkusen in 2018. “But the truth is you need many parts of the organization delivering up to 100%; efforts that might be invisible to the outside, but [are] important factors for sustainable growth and success.

“Last you need, very simply, a bit of luck — because sports will never be predictable.”

Bayern Leverkusen fans hold up a banner depicting coach Xabi Alonso during a match against Werder Bremen on Sunday.

(Martin Meissner / Associated Press)

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The challenge now is for Rolfes and Carro to take advantage of the opportunities Leverkusen’s historic season present. Even if the team falls short in its two remaining competitions, it is the German champion and the only unbeaten team in a major European league. That will mean millions of dollars in additional sponsorships, money that can be spent to pay the many players who are now likely to listen to the team’s offers.

“Naturally having an attractive squad on the field and historic results benefits the business side of the organization,” Carro said. “We need to take advantage of the momentum.

“Coming from a business background, I found it important from the beginning back in 2018, to look at the organizational and personnel tasks in order to professionalize Bayer. We invested in brand building and digital projects in tailored international content for our core markets. We played two games in the USA and Mexico in 2022 and plan on diverse projects globally for the near future.”

But Carro cautioned against making Leverkusen’s success solely about the bottom line.

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“Nobody working in sports should take decisions just because of possible revenues,” he said. “I love my job. I love to help lift an organization and its people to another level.

“Success on the field and rising attention then almost automatically will make it easier to increase your resources.”

Whether that will make Leverkusen perennial contenders or a one-season flash in the pan remains to be seen. After all, the team has won just one title in 120 years. Bayern Munich has won the Bundesliga 17 times this century alone.

“Bayern has resources that other clubs in our league do not have and they can keep their team together while others in the Bundesliga need to transfer their players for revenue generation,” Carro said. “But we’ve always known that we could put a team together to challenge and possibly even overtake them.

“Myself, I always want to win, no matter how good the chances might be. You have to believe that you can do it.”

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On Sunday they did.

You have read the latest installment of On Soccer with Kevin Baxter. The weekly column takes you behind the scenes and shines a spotlight on unique stories. Listen to Baxter on this week’s episode of the Corner of the Galaxy podcast.

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Ex-NFL star implores Russell Wilson to hang it up: ‘Do your TV thing’

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Ex-NFL star implores Russell Wilson to hang it up: ‘Do your TV thing’

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Russell Wilson has had his share of ups and downs in his NFL career.

He helped the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl championship in 2013 and was named to the Pro Bowl four times. But the last few years of his career arguably did some damage to his legacy as he’s spent the last three seasons with three different teams.

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New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson watches from the sidelines during the second quarter against the Philadelphia Eagles at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., on Oct. 9, 2025. (Brad Penner/Imagn Images)

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Wilson is still on the free-agent market as he looks to latch on to a new team for 2026. However, former NFL star Aqib Talib implored Wilson to hang up the cleats.

“Do your TV thing, Russ. It’s over with, man. Once you’ve got to decide, do I even want to play?” Talib said on “The Arena: Gridiron.” “I think you don’t really want to play. I hate when guys get to the later part of their career and then they start doing the bounce-around thing and they’re not going to win. There was no chip in New York. That’s just going to be another stop on your resume.”

Wilson reportedly garnered some interest from NFL teams.

New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson stands on the field before a game against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, PA on Oct. 26, 2025. (Bill Streicher/Imagn Images)

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He told the New York Post that the New York Jets were one of them.

Wilson also was reportedly a candidate to take Matt Ryan’s spot on CBS’ “The NFL Today” after Ryan left to take a front office job with the Atlanta Falcons.

Wilson has 46,966 passing yards and 353 passing touchdowns in 205 career games, but the 2025 season with the New York Giants was one to forget.

Wilson started three games and made some bizarre decisions in a loss against the Chiefs. Jaxson Dart was named the starting quarterback. As he came in to take a few snaps while Dart was being checked for a concussion, Wilson was booed.

New York Giants quarterback Russell Wilson watches from the sidelines during the second half against the Denver Broncos at Empower Field at Mile High in Denver, Colo., on Oct. 19, 2025. (Ron Chenoy/Imagn Images)

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Should he end up signing with another team, Wilson will be entering his age-38 season.

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Artists, community come together to welcome World Cup to Inglewood with murals and more

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Artists, community come together to welcome World Cup to Inglewood with murals and more

A lot has changed since Jacori Perry attended Morningside High School.

Perry is now a renowned artist who goes by the names Mr. Ace and AiseBorn.

The school is now known as Inglewood High School United.

And the lecture hall on that campus now features a large, ornate mural of a soccer ball being grasped by the hands of two people — freshly painted by the 2004 Morningside graduate as the city of Inglewood prepares to host eight World Cup games at SoFi Stadium starting next month.

Local artist Mr. Ace works on his mural at Inglewood High School United on May 11. The artists, whose real name is Jacori Perry, attended the school when it was known as Morningside High more than two decades ago.

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(Eric Thayer/Los Angeles Times)

“If you told me that I would be back here painting one of the walls on this campus when I was in high school, I don’t think that I necessarily would have foreseen it,” Mr. Ace said as he was putting the finishing touches on his mural last week. “So I’m a little in amazement about just the way life works in that sense.”

He was one of several Los Angeles-based artists to participate in a Road to World Cup Community Day last month at Inglewood High United. Many of the artists — including Juan Pablo Reyes (“JP murals”), Michelle Ruby Guerrero (“Mr. B Baby”) and Angel Acordagoitia — sketched designs on portable panels (12-feet by 8-feet) and picnic tables for community members to paint.

The picnic tables will remain at the high school in front of Mr. Ace’s mural. The mobile murals will be placed throughout LAX to welcome visitors arriving for the World Cup.

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Kathryn Schloessman, CEO of the Los Angeles World Cup 2026 Host Committee, said in a news release that the event was “just one example of how the energy of the World Cup can be felt in neighborhoods across our region.”

“Students, artists, and volunteers came together to create a work of art that will live on well beyond the end of the tournament,” Schloessman said. “It’s a reflection of the creativity, diversity, and community pride that makes our region so special as we prepare to host the world for FIFA World Cup 2026.”

Community members were encouraged to take part in the painting process, no matter their skill level.

“We made it easy enough for people that have zero experience to a proficient level of experience, for them to all be involved,” said Reyes, who designed and helped paint two mural panels and three tables. “We did the sketch, and then I tried to dab a little bit of color — whatever color is supposed to be there, I dabbed a little bit of color right there, so they would have a guide. …

People stand on a scaffold and on the ground while painting a mural on a large panel.

Students and community members help paint a mural panel during a Road to World Cup Community Day event May 2 at Inglewood High School.

(Dawn M. Burkes / Los Angeles Times)

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“I was right there, kind of supervising, making sure that everything went as planned. And if anybody has questions, they’re more than welcome to let me know about them. But, yeah, it’s pretty easy for them to kind of be involved and feel that sense of ownership and have a sense of pride that, ‘Yeah, I was part of that mural-creation process.’ It’s a rich experience for them.”

Acordagoitia sketched several table-top designs for the public to paint at the event.

“They did great,” he said of the community members. “They helped a lot. They were asking questions. They got all the other colors correct. So, yeah, they were excited. A lot of kids were excited to see the live painting, because now kids are used to being on their phones. So that was a great experience for them.”

Acordagoitia also opted to paint a mural panel on his own because “it was a little more technical,” involving portraits of his 8-year-old son, a nephew and a friend.

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“I wanted to focus more on the youth because that’s really our future,” he said. “So that’s, that’s the main thing about the mural, just about the kids, soccer, culture, community. It’s exciting for me, because I grew up playing soccer and to include soccer with art, it’s just a dream come true.”

Guerrero said “the community was a big help in filling in all the background colors that I need in order to build the detail and layers” on the two mural panels she designed.

“My whole style is based on culture. And I think that there’s a connection there with the World Cup and how I feel like it brings together all the culture and just, like, celebration,” Guerrero said. “It kind of goes hand in hand with the type of work I do, because my stuff is really festive, celebrating culture. And just as an L.A.-based artist, I think the collaboration made sense.”

The four artists also took part in another Road to World Cup Community Day in downtown L.A. at Gloria Molina Grand Park on March 14. At that event, the artists sketched designs on large sculptures shaped like soccer balls and an oversized picnic table, also for community members to paint.

While Mr. Ace opted to paint his permanent mural at Inglewood High School United on his own, he was sure to include the community theme into his work.

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“The idea was really centered around just creating something that was community-based — something that represented the World Cup but also represented some sense of community,” he said. “And so what I did was try to create something that was symbolic, very direct in terms of its relationship to soccer and figuring out through that how to create something simple that [brings] into that a sense of community. And that’s how I landed on the two hands holding the soccer ball.”

A man stands in a lift and paints on a wall with blue paint as part of a mural with an ornate design.

Local artist Mr. Ace works on his World Cup-themed mural at Inglewood High School United on May 11.

(Eric Thayer / Los Angeles Times)

Back when he was a student on that campus, Mr. Ace said he was always involved in art and knew he wanted a career as an artist. He struggled to come up with the right words to describe how it felt being back there creating a work of art to be shared with the students, all of the community and everyone who happens to see it on the way to a World Cup match.

“I guess there’s no words to really describe it,” he said. “I think if any artist gets the opportunity to paint at their own high school — especially if they’ve been doing large-scale works around the city, the country or the world — I think that is a little touching. When it’s attached to something like the World Cup … you know, a large part of my childhood was spent in Inglewood, so coming from my circumstances and life, I think it’s even more intriguing.”

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Indy 500: Counting Down The 10 Best Finishes In Race History

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Indy 500: Counting Down The 10 Best Finishes In Race History

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The best Indianapolis 500 finish could be subjective, depending on which driver a fan was rooting for to win.

It certainly is in the eye of the beholder.

So take this list for what it’s worth. One view of the 10 best finishes in Indianapolis 500 history. Of course, it skews to more recent decades when the runs have come a little faster and the finishes have had a tendency to be a little closer.

We’ll add one each day to this list of fantastic finishes ahead of the 110th running of the Indy 500 on May 24 (12:30 p.m. ET on FOX).

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10. Ericsson outduels O’Ward (2022)

After a red flag, Marcus Ericsson held off Pato O’Ward in a two-lap shootout. The shootout didn’t last two laps, though, as there was a crash on the final lap behind them. Ericsson had a comfortable lead when the red flag came out for a crash with four laps to go, a situation where in past Indianapolis 500 races, they likely would have ended the race under caution with Ericsson as the winner.

9. Foyt survives chaos (1967)

How does a driver who wins by two laps end up on this list? It’s because the win nearly didn’t happen on the last lap. A big crash with cars and debris littering the frontstretch just ahead of Foyt as he came to the checkered flag forced him to navigate through the wreckage for the win.

8. Sato can’t catch Franchitti (2012)

This was one of those finishes where the leader holds on for the win, but boy did the leader have to hold on. Takuma Sato tried to pass Dario Franchitti early on the final lap but to no avail and Franchitti sped off for the victory. This was one of those Indy 500s that made you hold your breath all the way to the checkered flag.

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